Super Mario 64's Bob-omb Battlefield Rebuilt With LEGO

LEGO builder Matt De Lanoy has rebuilt the first course of Nintendo's landmark 3D platformer.

One of my great shames as a gamer (and retro columnist) is that I've never played Super Mario 64. Not even a single second of it. It makes it worse that it's my own fault. When I first got my N64, the game I brought home with it was StarFox 64. And when that was later stolen during a break-in I again passed up the opportunity to try the new Mario and instead picked up GoldenEye 007. Then, as the years passed by, Ocarina of Time pushed it even further off my radar until I finally moved onto the PS2 and Mario 64 slipped into antiquity.

It's a hole in my gaming experience that I deeply regret, especially after seeing the work of veteran LEGO builder Matt De Lanoy who recently released images of his recreation of the game's Bob-omb Battlefield course. For this build he pulled out all the stops, constructing LEGO brick versions of individual enemies and even including the level's coins and hidden stars. Granted, his Mario mini-figure arguably looks a bit odd (it's just not chubby enough), but you really have to respect the clear effort he put into being faithful to the source material.

In fact, I'd go so far to say that this diorama really demonstrates just how badly we need LEGO to partner up with Nintendo to produce some actual commercial sets. The K'Nex Mario Kart sets are a nice start, but they still don't fully scratch the itch. Take a peek at De Lanoy's build and let us know what you think.